


The Path Was Chosen Long Ago

by InvisibleasMusic



Series: Fairytale Snippets [4]
Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Original Work
Genre: All Magic Comes With a Price, Excessive wordiness, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Once Upon A Time, WIP, basically the prologue, instead of adopting, merchant oc/his clever wife, no beta we die like men, so much backstory on magic and magic users in this world, that time we wanted a kid so bad we asked a mysterious magic user (TM) for help, the author was inspired to write a fairytale, what could go wrong, who is also an oc - Freeform, you will pry these commas out of my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23538010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InvisibleasMusic/pseuds/InvisibleasMusic
Summary: When a merchant and his wife exhaust all reputable options in their quest for a child, their last hope lies in magic. But all magic comes with a price, and everyone knows what happens to those who try to cheat destiny...
Relationships: Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Fairytale Snippets [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693786
Kudos: 1





	The Path Was Chosen Long Ago

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the many, many fairy tales involving wishing for children, as well as the many others involving following arrows etc to find one's significant other. I love a good cautionary tale, don't you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Narrator Voice (Morgan Freeman style): Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time, long ago and far away, there lived a wealthy merchant and his wife. Now, the merchant owned a sturdy little fleet of ships that sailed around the world, although he had never been to sea himself. Instead, it was his own father who, through a combination of charm, good fortune, and a brief but judicious stint as a privateer, amassed enough funds to buy not only the ship he captained, but several others besides, thus gaining the means to retire to a life as a well-to-do businessman. 

Yes, the merchant owed much of his success to his father, who seeing that his son had little love for the sea, but rather a love for numbers, saw to it that he received the best education money could buy. To tell the truth, it might have served the merchant better had he spent some time toiling on one of his father’s ships. Time spent at counting houses and banks fostered in him a greedy sort of appreciation for gathering wealth that his father could never have conceived of, and a lack appreciation for the efforts of the common man further gave the merchant a very dim view of human nature. Still, he had a head for numbers and a business sense as keen as his father’s, and if he happened to have grown cynical rather than charming, well none of his business partners or employees could ever claim he cheated them, though many grumbled privately to their friends and family that drawing water from a stone would be easier than getting the merchant to part with a single coin, and a stone would certainly be more forgiving of mistakes. 

Moving past the merchant’s vices (and perhaps I am too quick to judge), the greatest of his virtues was that when he loved, he loved as well and as wisely as he could. He was as capable of love as any other man, although somewhat less inclined to show it, and when he married shortly after his father’s death, it was to a woman who loved him as he loved her. It wasn’t a love past all reason (this is not that sort of tale), nor a love that could transform a beast into a man, for the merchant was not after all so near to that category, but rather a gentle devotion fostered by intimacy and common ground, the sort of love that gives relief from the stress of the world and sharpens the mind with pleasure and pride in the beloved. 

The merchant's wife was as shrewd as her husband, for whatever his other faults the merchant had the good sense to despise the delicate sensitivity that was the current fashion among women of good breeding, a sensitivity that stifles the development of both character and capability. Instead, far from being a hot house rose, the merchant’s wife had a cunning mind and knew even better than her husband what was wanted among the wealthy set. The merchant therefore gave over to her the task of determining the type and quantity of the rare goods his ships obtained, keeping for himself the business of managing the more pedestrian goods. Thus, the two of them lived very well, and kept very busy, and if either of them ever suffered a brief moment of discontent, it was in the moments that they were reminded that the merchant’s wife had yet to conceive a child. 

From the day the two had been wed, the merchant had openly harbored the hope for a son, by that time, even as a young man he had already succeeded in increasing several times over the fortune left to him by his father, and although he had little sense of what it takes to raise a child, there was within him a longing to engender his own legacy. Alas for the couple, the years passed without the event of any child, let alone a son. The both of them tried every herbal remedy, and visited every reputable doctor, but none could find any reason why the merchant’s wife could not conceive, nor did any cure of theirs produce a result. 

At last, having exhausted all other options, the merchant and his wife were forced to turn to a less reputable source. Magic, at least in the country in which the merchant and his wife called home, was not by any means considered respectable. Those who practiced it were for the most part neither persecuted nor executed (the later being illegal unless a veritable mountain of evidence could be provided to show positive proof of evil deeds, and the former being considered to be in the same poor taste as persecuting those suffering from horrible, but noncommunicable diseases). One practiced magic when one could learn no other trade, at least that was the majority opinion. The truth was rather that those who practiced magic cared little for either social standing or societal conventions, and on the whole actually quite preferred to be ignored, even if it meant being seen as ne’er do wells by their fellow citizens, especially since it also kept neighbors and relations from constantly coming around demanding love potions and good luck charms as if human magic users were no more than a lesser species of fairy godmother (these did exist, but out of deference to the local sensibilities generally only appeared at royal christenings, and like human magic users they appreciated not having every task interrupted by mundane, albeit royal, demands). 

Still, desperate times call for desperate measures, and so the merchant and his wife had one of their most loyal servants cautiously and discreetly interview the least objectionable among the local practitioners. These worthies, although they did not appreciate the interruption, were at least understanding in the face of genuine anguish, and one by one they quietly dropped by to see if there was anything to be done. Some few of their number were charlatans, as the servant, though an honest man, was not by any means a judge of magical capability, but most had power of one sort or another, and still none of them could help. The last of these, being well aware that she was the last, and feeling a sort of responsibility in light of that fact, did have one last hope to offer. “In three months” she said, “when the moon is full, a cousin of mine will be coming down from the capital. If anyone has the power to aid you, she does, though I cannot say whether or not she will. Still, by your leave, I’ll tell her about you and see if she’s inclined to stop by.” Having said her piece, she departed with an air of one discharging a responsibility. 

Fortunately enough, three months later it seemed that the cousin had been convinced, for one quiet evening, when it was late enough that both merchant and wife were home, but before either had gone to bed, a maid opened the parlor door with an apologetic air and curtsied herself out as quickly as possible, leaving in her wake the promised woman, evidenced by both a faint family resemblance, and that indefinable but nevertheless present feeling of other that surrounds all true practitioners. 

“So,” said she, wasting no time on social graces, “I’ve heard tell that you wish to conceive a child. Well I suppose it’s no business of mine, but in your place I would have tried adoption. It would certainly be a great deal easier, and probably cheaper besides.”

“Money is no object, if you can fulfill our request,” said the merchant’s wife, eyeing the woman for her rudeness but also with an appreciation of her businesslike manner. “I will not say I would give anything, but there is little I would not give for a child of my own blood.”

“Well,” the woman replied with an air of faint approval “you have some sense then, and a great deal of stubbornness, both of which will serve you well. For ten gold nobles, I can grant you a child, I can even grant you twins of either sex for an extra ten, but the full price cannot be paid in coin, and it cannot be avoided.”

“50 gold nobles I would happily pay, if it would grant me a son,” exclaimed the merchant, leaning forward in his chair, “I have spent more than ten to buy a horse, as for twins, that is my wife’s decision, since she will have the greater part of the matter.” 

“For my part,” the wife murmured cautiously, “I would know more of the full price, for as I said, I would not give all for a child.”

“Well spoken again!” said the witch, finally moving to sit across from the couple at the parlor table. “Some of us would take your life for the child’s, although around these parts they would at least have the decency to ask you first. I, on the other hand, have the knowledge and skill to obtain the power I need by means of a different price, though for all I know you may find it equally unappealing.”

[For those of my readers whose education on matters of magic is lacking, I suppose I should explain that every act of magic requires that for something to be given, some change to be made, something else must first be taken. That something being of at least equivalent (if not greater) value. Oftentimes the only price is some of the magic user’s own energy, or the same supplemented by the energies provided by flower and herb, root and stem. Great workings; however, require great power, and in the case of childbirth great subtlety, and indeed to be able to maneuver the price of a life for a life is certainly an indication of great skill and greater cunning.] 

“Tell us plainly what price you speak of,” bade the merchant’s wife, glancing first at her husband, and then at her wedding band, “and we will see if we can pay it.”

“Very well,” said the woman, “If a son is born to you, he will be well formed and of great character, and all will be well with him, but on the morning of his first and twentieth birthday he must wed to the first woman he sees as he steps out of doors (if she be not of his blood and unmarried besides), and he must be as true to her as she is to him, else he will surely sicken and die.”  
Without pausing, the woman held up her hand, seeing both her listeners fairly bursting to speak, continuing, “If twins are born to you, the son will go the same way, but the daughter’s path will differ, she will grow quickly and gracefully in mind as in body, as well formed and strong-willed as her brother, but on the eve of her 18th birthday she must take two empty baskets, and walk alone to the sea, to the first man who asks her purpose she must give her hand (if he be not of her blood and unmarried besides) and she must be as true to him as he is to her, else she will surely sicken and die.” 

“How can such a ridiculous price even be considered!” shouted the merchant, leaping up from his chair to pace, “Such a thing is unthinkable!”

“What my husband means,” the merchant’s wife hastened to say, catching her husband’s hand and drawing herself up beside him “is why should such a price be asked?” 

“It is simple enough,” the woman answered calmly “You ask that fate be changed for them and thus they must be given over to fate, else there is no power by which they can be born, unless you give your own life, and even then it be only for one.”

“Let us go out and talk the matter over,” the merchant’s wife requested, squeezing her husband’s hand in warning when he would have spoken again, “and upon returning give you our answer.” 

“Do as you like,” replied the woman, “no decision should ever be made lightly, and this is greater than most.”

Upon exiting the room and closing the thick door, the merchant and his wife could be forgiven for thinking themselves out of earshot, but the senses of magic uses are stronger than most are aware of, and so the woman heard every word. 

“Ludicrous,” spat the merchant, “marry our son or daughter to whatever stranger passes by, whoever they might be! Unrelated and unmarried are some very broad specifications, and I’ll have no children of mine chained some drunkard or ne’er do well!”

“Wait, husband mine,” soothed the merchant’s wife, “it is not so heavy a price as it first seems. All we must do is ensure that the first young woman our son sees is a suitable one, and that a young man of good character is close by to question our daughter.”

Inside the parlor, the woman’s lips twisted wryly, as she laughed quietly under her breath. “The bard had the right of it,” she muttered. “Lord, what fools these mortals be, do you think fate, constrained for even a moment to your purpose, will ever suffer to be bridled again?” So saying, she quieted herself, for the door was opening. 

“We will pay your price,” announced the merchant’s wife, sweeping into the parlor with her husband and reclaiming her seat, “twenty gold noble for the safe delivery of twins, so I shall have a daughter and my husband a son, and as for the other price...we shall see it done.”

“Well enough,” answered the woman, “well enough, ere the gold is in my purse, sure enough I’ll weave my spell.”

“I have it here,” said the merchant, motioning to a purse at his belt, though making no move to hand it to her.

“It is well for you that I approve of shrewdness,” the woman chided, fixing the merchant with a steady look. “Still, to satisfy you I’ll take ten now and leave you ten to give into my cousin’s keeping after the birth.” 

“Done and done,” the merchant declared, counting out ten heavy gold coins and handing them to the woman, “fair enough.”

Then, motioning to the merchant’s wife to stay seated, the woman got up and walked around the table to kneel beside her, placing her hands on her stomach, fingers clasped over each other, muttering under her breath words neither the merchant not his wife could hear. At first, all was still, but shortly thereafter even the most mundane of mortals would have sensed the gathering of power, like an oncoming storm billowing around the room without so much as shifting a curtain. At a final muttered word, the storm vanished, and all was as it had been.

Rising, the woman reached into the bag she carried over her shoulder and took out a bag of some strange powder, handing it to the merchant’s wife with these words, “Take a pinch of this with tea every night before you sleep, from this night until you deliver, if you run low, send for my cousin, and soon enough you’ll be a mother.” So saying, the woman departed as abruptly as she arrived, though at the door to the parlor she paused, turning to face them one final time. “Remember, the second price cannot be avoided, lest both your children should sicken and die.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments appreciated.


End file.
